Stock Market & Financial Investment News

Marvell rises after announcing plans to appeal patent decisionShares of fabless semiconductor provider Marvell Technology (MRVL) are higher this morning after the company said it will appeal a district judge's order for the company to pay nearly $1.54B for breaching two hard disk drive patents held by Carnegie Mellon University. WHAT'S NEW: The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania yesterday rejected Marvell's motion to reduce a patent infringement jury award against it and added more than $366M to Carnegie Mellon University’s award, bringing it to $1.54B. That amount is higher than the $1.17B that a jury previously awarded CMU, but the judge rejected CMU's motion for an injunction which would block Marvell from selling chips that the jury found to be infringing. The judge also rejected CMU's demand for about $326M in pre-judgment interest and denied CMU’s bid for enhanced damages at a higher rate. WHAT'S NOTABLE: Marvell intends to appeal to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. Marvell and Marvell Semiconductor, its U.S. subsidiary, intend to argue to the Federal Circuit "that the patents at issue are invalid, that even if valid, Marvell did not infringe, and that the Court erred both in its calculation of the royalty rate and in its novel application of that rate to chips manufactured, sold, and used abroad." Marvell said it does not expect to record a liability on its financial statements and believes a material loss is not probable. ANALYST REACTION: MKM Partners thinks the ruling removes a major overhang on Marvell's stock. Additionally, the firm says concerns about competition Marvell is facing from Qualcomm (QCOM) and Mediatek are "overdone." MKM, which said it believes Marvell's revenue for the full year will beat the current consensus outlook, has a Buy rating and $19 price target on Marvell shares. PRICE ACTION: Marvell Technology shares are up 55c, or 3.5%, to $16.30 in late-morning trading.

Qualcomm provides details of Strategic Realignment Plan The details of the Qualcomm Strategic Realignment Plan are as follows: 1) Aggressively right-sizing the cost structure to deliver profitable growth. Qualcomm is implementing a comprehensive cost reduction action to reduce annual costs from its fiscal 2015 levels of $7.3 billion (adjusted for variable compensation) by approximately $1.1 billion through a series of targeted reductions that will not jeopardize the Company's growth objectives or core technology roadmap. These cost initiatives include reductions in headcount and temporary workforce, streamlining the engineering organization, reducing the number of offices and increasing the mix of resources in lower-cost regions. The Company is also reducing annual share-based compensation grants by approximately $300 million. While these specific cost initiatives are expected to be fully implemented by the end of fiscal year 2016, the Company will continue to examine its cost structure for additional efficiencies that enhance profitability without sacrificing its future growth potential. 2) Initiating new review of financial and structural alternatives available to create stockholder value. In light of recent industry developments and other elements of the Strategic Realignment Plan, Qualcomm's Board and management, with the assistance of outside financial advisors, are conducting a review of the Company's corporate structure (including possible business separation alternatives), capital return opportunities and other potential strategic and financial alternatives available to the Company to create stockholder value. The Company does not expect to publicly comment on this review prior to its completion, which is expected to occur by the end of the calendar year. 3) Reaffirming intent to return significant capital to stockholders. A strong balance sheet and regulatory resolution in China have provided Qualcomm the flexibility to significantly increase its capital returns to stockholders and execute the largest capital returns program in Company history. Qualcomm is committed to continuing to return a minimum of 75% of free cash flow to stockholders through dividends and repurchases going forward, in addition to the previously announced $10 billion stock repurchase program to be completed by March 2016. Changes to the capital return program will be considered as part of the Board and management's review of financial and structural alternatives. 4) Adding new Directors with complementary skill sets while reducing the average tenure of the Board of Directors. Mark McLaughlin and Tony Vinciquerra have been added to the Board and the Company plans to appoint one additional independent director. These directors bring skills and perspectives that will be helpful to the Company as it implements its Strategic Realignment Plan. The Company is also reducing the average tenure of the Board of Directors. General Brent Scowcroft and Duane Nelles have retired from the Board. Sir Donald Cruickshank had previously informed the Company that he will not stand for re-election to the Board in 2016. Raymond Dittamore has advised the Company that, assuming he is re-elected to the Board at the Company's 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, he does not intend to stand for re-election in 2017. 5) Further aligning executive compensation with performance and stockholder return objectives. The Board plans to change Qualcomm's executive compensation program by adding an additional returns-based metric for performance-based equity awards and taking share-based compensation provided to the Company's executives and other employees into account when calculating earnings per share for use in determining executives' annual cash bonuses. 6) Disciplined investment to further leadership positions and drive growth while delivering attractive returns. The Company intends to focus its investments in technologies that scale across core smartphone and adjacent growth opportunities, such as in its leading modem and other differentiated technologies. Qualcomm is reducing its investments outside of QTL and QCT and will focus these investments around the highest-return opportunities, including data centers, small cells and certain IoE verticals.

Earnings Watch: Qualcomm reports after speculations of potential breakupQualcomm (QCOM) is expected to report third quarter earnings after the close on July 22, with a conference call scheduled for 4:45 pm ET. Qualcomm is a maker of semiconductors and telecommunications equipment. EXPECTATIONS: Analysts are looking for earnings per share of 95c on revenue of $5.85B. EPS consensus ranges 90c-$1.05 on a revenue range of $5.59B-$6.08B, according to First Call. LAST QUARTER: On April 22, Qualcomm reported Q2 EPS of $1.40 against expectations for $1.33, and revenue of $6.89B versus estimates of $6.83B. The company also cut its FY15 EPS guidance to $4.60-$5.00 from $4.85-$5.05 and lowered projected revenue to $25B-$27B from $26.3B-$28B, saying it expects pressure in its semiconductor business due to customer shifts in the premium segment and a decline in Qualcomm's share at an unnamed large customer. NEWS: On May 8, Reuters reported that EU antitrust regulators asked Qualcomm's competitors how the company's licensing and business practices affect them, and on July 16, the European Commission confirmed two formal antitrust investigations of the company. On May 25, Qualcomm and Daimler (DDAIF) announced a strategic collaboration to develop connected car technology. Coming on the heels of Avago's (AVGO) May 28 agreement to acquire Broadcom (BRCM), Bloomberg quoted a source later that day as saying Qualcomm, Intel (INTC), Altera (ALTR), Analog Devices (ADI), Maxim Integrated (MXIM), Texas Instruments (TXN), and Microchip Technology (MCHP) are all considering their own M&A opportunities. Note that on June 1, Intel announced an agreement to acquire Altera. On June 23, Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMI), Qualcomm, Huawei, and Imec announced the formation of a joint venture to focus on a type of 14 nanometer technology. More recently, the Wall Street Journal reported on July 20 that Qualcomm is "expected" to begin a comprehensive strategic review which may include the possibility of a breakup following pressure from "activist" shareholder Jana Partners, according to sources, adding that the move could be announced concurrent with Wednesday's earnings release. STREET RESEARCH: Following last quarter's earnings report, Exane BNP Paribas downgraded Qualcomm to Neutral from Outperform, while both Canaccord and Brean Capital lowered price targets for the stock after "disappointing" guidance. Meanwhile, Citi said it expects the company's chip business to recover in 2016 despite this "very bad year." On May 28, CLSA said it sees continued pressure on Qualcomm chipsets, potentially spurring the company to consider making an acquisition, and on June 2, Craig-Hallum noted that Skyworks (SWKS) would be a great fit for Qualcomm. On June 24, Summit Research called Applied Micro Circuits (AMCC) an "affordable" target for Qualcomm, with AMD (AMD) and Cavium (CAVM) also looking like potential takeover candidates. On June 29, Drexel Hamilton downgraded Qualcomm to Sell from Hold, citing expected price cuts. Lastly, following media reports on July 20 that Qualcomm could be weighing a breakup, Bernstein said that such a "dis-synergistic" split would likely destroy value rather than create it. PRICE ACTION: Shares of Qualcomm are down more than 1% to $64.37 in afternoon trading ahead of Wednesday's earnings report.

Qualcomm July weekly volatility elevated into Q3 and report of possible breakupQualcomm July weekly call option implied volatility is at 60, August is at 27, September is at 23; compared to its 52-week range of 12 to 48, suggesting large near term price movement into the expected release of Q3 results on July 22 and WSJ report of possible breakup.